Manufacturing silica aerogel and cryogel through ambient pressure and freeze drying.

Achieving a mesoporous structure in superinsulation materials is pivotal for guaranteeing a harmonious relationship between low thermal conductivity, high porosity, and low density. Herein, we report silica-based cryogel and aerogel materials by implementing freeze-drying and ambient-pressure-drying processes respectively. The obtained freeze-dried cryogels yield thermal conductivity of 23 mW m K, with specific surface area of 369.

Protein dynamics in supercooled water: the search for slow motional modes.

The impact of studying protein dynamics in supercooled water for identifying slow motional modes on the micros time scale is demonstrated. Backbone 15N spin relaxation parameters were measured at -13 degrees C for ubiquitin, which plays a central role for signaling proteolysis, cellular trafficking and kinase activation in eukaryotic organisms. A hitherto undetected motional mode involving Val 70 was found, which may well play an important role for ubiquitin recognition.